These beguiling and rather odd images form part of a new exhibition – STEMS – at McNaughtan’s Bookshop on Haddington Place.
They are the work of a young Glasgow-based artist, Jamie Johnson, who graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art with a degree in Illustration four years ago and then went on to study Advanced Intaglio Printmaking at Edinburgh College of Art.
His work has appeared since in exhibitions at the National Gallery and Broughton’s own Superclub Gallery, and in various zines, books and The Skinny.
The media used in this McNaughtan show include photo-etching, pen, collage and marble ink, lithoprint, pencil, digital print, giclée print, and gouache.
What unites them is a quirky, dreamlike fascination with detailed mysteries. Or, in Johnson's own words, they explore 'non-linear imagined narratives, through elements of primitivism and folk culture'.
This reviewer particularly enjoyed the textural and tonal subtleties of ‘Babel Tower’ (above) and the startling peculiarity of ‘How I learned to fly’ (below).
The exhibition continues until 28 March. AM
